The importance to our topic of the examination of procedural practice should not be underrated. Few things are more valuable in understanding the law of marriage. The study of procedure reveals much about who controlled the progress of each case. It shows how far many parts of the law were put into effective practice. It allows for some conclusions about the canonical system in general. It even answers questions about the nature of marriage in the later medieval period. This chapter seeks to explore the salient features of procedure as they affected practice in marriage cases. It does not attempt an outline of formal libellary procedure. As we shall see, that would be misleading. Instead the chapter begins with an evaluation of the effectiveness of the courts in handling litigation. It then moves to a more detailed look at the important aspects of the procedural steps taken in most marriage cases.

It is best, however, to begin with a word of caution. There was scarcely a rule of procedure which did not, in practice, admit of exception. If we say that witnesses were examined secretly and outside of court, that would be true. But it is easy to produce specific cases in which the witnesses were examined openly before the parties, and during the regular session of a court. If we note that the defendant answered the plaintiff's positions as the first step after the libel, before any witnesses had appeared, that too would be correct.